Kitchen tips

Did you know that you can freeze mushrooms?

Did you know that you can freeze mushrooms very successfully. Often on the market stalls you will see green grocers selling boxes of mushrooms at knock down prices because the mushrooms 'need using'. In other words they need to be used that day or very near to that time.

Freezing these mushrooms is a real money saver. Simply skin the mushrooms (if they are large) chop up and place in a zip lock bag in the freezer. The next time that you are making a stew or soup just toss in the content of the bag (no need to defrost) and cook as normal.

Keep your mushrooms in the dark

If you want your mushrooms to last as long as possible, don't wash them before stor­ing. Put them in the refrigerator in a paper bag or colored, plastic container that keeps the light out. Wash them just before you use them.

Mushrooms last longest when they're cool, dark, and 'dry.

Stop cooked cauliflower from turning brown with lemon

Cauliflower is a great vegetable to serve with many meals. One problem with cooked cauliflower is it can turn brown when cooking. Here is a tip to stop cooked cauliflower from turning brown with lemon.

All you need to do before cooking is squeeze a tea­spoon of fresh lemon juice into the water, and your cauliflower will stay white.

Serve artichokes with gourmet dips

Most people just serve artichoke leaves with the option of dipping them in butter. So here is a tip to serve artichokes with gourmet dressings.

All you need to do is after steaming the artichokes until tender, try dipping the leaves in Hollandaise sauce, light mayonnaise blended with lemon juice, or plain yogurt mixed with Dijon mustard.

Get spinach squeaky clean

Have you ever washed spinach carefully only to have your family complain that it's gritty? Here is a tip to get spinach really clean before cooking.

Next time, wash it with salt water, and say goodbye to grit.

Keep cauliflower white with vinegar

Cauliflower can often turn brown while cooking. Here is a great tip to keep your cauliflower white when cooking it.

All you need to do is add a spoonful of vinegar to the cooking water to make cauliflower white and clean.

Microwave tender asparagus

Why bother with pots and pans when you can microwave a pound of asparagus to perfec­tion in less than 10 minutes?

Using a large, microwavable contain­er, lay the asparagus in a single layer with the tips facing the center. Cover and microwave on high for a total of six to 10 minutes or until tender. Rearrange the asparagus after half that time, exchang­ing pieces on the outer edges of the container with ones in the mid­dle. Cover again and finish cooking.

Watch out for steam when you remove the cover from your cooked asparagus.

Wake up wilted asparagus

Fresh asparagus is so expen­sive you can't afford to let it wilt in your refrigerator. To keep it fresh, and to perk up wilted asparagus, cut off a half inch from the bottom of the stalk and stand the vegetable in an inch of warm water.

Be careful not to get the tips wet. Your asparagus will look and taste great when you cook them for dinner.

Stop potatoes from budding with an apple

Do you find that your potatoes start to bud before you get to use them/ You can prevent potatoes from budding by placing an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Believe it or not it works.

Remove food stains from your fingers with potato

If after preparing certain foods your fingers are stained, usually from berries. Try the following tip to remove the food color from your fingers.

Surprisingly enough potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.

Fruit stains on fingers removed with vinegar

Keep brown sugar fresher for longer

If you use brown sugar only on special occasions and think that when you get it out it could be a bit fresher. Well you can put your brown sugar in a container and put it in the freezer or in the fridge to keep it fresher for many more months than in the cupboard.

Soften hard brown sugar in the microwave

Brown sugar often gets hard as a rock. Do not throw away the brown sugar thinking that it is not good, that is far from the truth, in fact it is quite normal.

To use the brown sugar again all you need to do is put that brown sugar in the microwave for just a few minutes on low so you can use it easily.

Soften hard brown sugar cured with apple

Has your bag of brown sugar turned into an unusable mound of rock candy? This can be really frustrating but this simple tip will rescue your hard brown sugar.

All you need to do to soften the sugar is place a slice of apple in the bag and reseal it. In no time, your sugar will be soft.

How to crack open a coconut

Opening a coconut is a delicate operation. If you just smash it with a hammer, you'll be in for a surprise. Coconuts contain a whitish juice called milk, which will make a mess if you don't drain it first. Find one of the "eyes" of the coconut by looking for round, hairless areas that are slightly indented and softer than the rest of the shell.

Poke a hole in one of the eyes and drain the milk into a bowl. Now you're ready to crack it open - almost. Coconuts crack better when they're cold or hot. You can put it in the freezer for an hour, or heat it in a 350­degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes. If you heat it, be sure to let it cool before cracking.

Cover the coconut with a towel and use a hammer to gently whack it all over. It will eventually break open, allowing you to cut out the meat.

Stop fruit salad turning brown with honey

Have you ever made a beautiful fruit salad only to have it turn brown before you could serve it? A bit of light-flavored honey mixed into the fruit will take care of that.

The small amount of natural acid in honey keeps fruit looking fresh.

Only buying fruit for one person?

You can enjoy melons and pineap­ples even if you live alone and can't use a whole one. A simple way around this is to as the produce clerk to cut one in half for you. Most grocery stores are happy to oblige.

This often works best if you go to the same store every week. They get to know your face and they will always be looking for the repeat customer.

Keep grapefruit fresher for longer

Generally speaking you can keep grape­fruit in a fruit bowl on your counter for about a week from when you buy it. However if you want your grapefruit to last longer all you need to do is put them in your refrigerator in a plastic bag or in the fruit and vegetable bin of your refrigerator.

Make rinding oranges, lemons and other citrus easier

When a recipe calls for the rind of an orange, lemon or other citrus fruit, do you sometimes get some of the bitter white pith mixed in?

The best way to avoid this problem is not to grate lemon or orange rinds. Instead, use a potato peeler to evenly remove a layer of rind. You can then mince the rind into tiny pieces with a knife or your grinder.

Get the most juice from your citrus fruit

If a lemon, orange or other citrus fruit is cold you will struggle to get the maximum juice from them. All you need to do to correct this is to take lemons, or other citrus fruit, out of the refrigerator a few hours before squeezing to get them to room temperature.

If you forget to take the fruit out early, simply run them under warm water for a minute. Then roll them back and forth on a hard surface under the pressure of your palm. Now when you squeeze your lemons, you'll get plenty of juice.

Another tip you can use is to cut one small end off of your lemon, put it in the microwave for just ten or fifteen seconds and this will help the juices flow faster!

Keep applesauce fresh for longer

Applesauce is not too good at being stored in the refridgerator. Here is a tip that will keep your applesauce fresher for longer.

All you need to do is turn the jar upside down in the fridge so that no 'air' can get into the jar. When there is no air getting to the applesauce it prevents molds from growing.

Prevent apples from turning brown

Do you like to make fruit salad ahead of when you need it only to be disappointed when your sliced apples go brown in what seems a few minutes.

All you need to do to stop prepared apples from going brown is to squeeze a little lemon juice on the apple pieces, and they'll stay snowy white.

Warm berries taste better

Do you store your berries (strawberries. blackberries etc) in the refrigerator. If so you should heed this tip as you will have better flavor when serving berries.]

If you want your berries to be their best, pull them out of the refrigerator an hour or two before you serve them. Room temperature brings out a berry's best flavor.

Store kiwi fruit for months

Unripened kiwi fruit, which are very firm, can keep in your refrigerator as long as six months if they haven't started to ripen. When you want them to ripen remove them from the fridge, leave them at room temperature until they soften.

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